


spooky scary skeletons (send shivers down your spine)

by Valkyrees



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Halloween, Humor, It's the time of year to be spoopy, Necromancer AU, Oh, also just wanted to write and finish a necromancer au for once, and, but this is mostly meant to not be terribly sad, i might even call it, kara is a necromancer, lena used to be dead, the usual, there's a little angst surrounding lena's death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:21:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26900548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valkyrees/pseuds/Valkyrees
Summary: -In Kara's defense, she's always had a knack for getting herself into fucked up situations. It's probably why she's on the shit-list with the Magic Council as it is. Even so,thisis big even for her. She's been a licensed screw-up of a necromancer for six years, but she's never accidentally reanimated ahuman.OR,the necromancer au
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 82
Kudos: 672





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> just some halloween fun, think the tags summed it up, but if you want me to tag something else, let me know (8
> 
> as always, hope you enjoy x
> 
> I'm on [TUMBLR](https://valkyrieskwad.tumblr.com/) and [TWITTER](https://twitter.com/VaIkyrieSquad). Come hang out with me!
> 
> <3

In Kara's defense, she's not really thinking when it happens.

She's three miles into her run, eight songs into her favorite playlist, and fucking _tired_ from fighting off a three-night long phantom infestation. So when she turns left instead of right and steps off the running path, she barely notices; then her foot snags on something, and she goes flying to the ground, and when her eyes readjust to the dark: she sees she tripped over a body.

As in, a _human_ body.

Needless to say, she's a little bit surprised (read: outright fucking startled), so maybe she _does_ accidentally bring a corpse back to life.

"Anyway," Kara says, a few minutes later, trying and failing to think of a conversation starter. "I think the blood really accentuates your skin tone."

The woman standing across from her just keeps staring. Silently. Her eyes are mostly black, face pale and halfway shielded by the dark, and the fact that she won't talk is giving Kara goosebumps. This is just her luck, though: she's always had a knack for getting herself into fucked up situations, probably why she's on the shit-list with the Magic Council as it is, but this is big even for her.

She's been a licensed screw-up of a necromancer for six years, but she's never accidentally reanimated a _human_. 

"I was gonna finish my run," she keeps going, "but maybe I'll head home instead. You should probably follow me there. I mean, unless you want to wander around the park as a corpse. No judgment if you do. But people might find that a little weird, considering."

For a second, it seems like the woman's eyes are shifting, flickering in the moonlight, and Kara hopes to all hell this is a simple reanimation and she didn't just awaken some next level super-freaking-natural shit, _ugh_. She should really start running when it's light out like a normal person. 

"Just a suggestion, feel free to think about it," she says, pressing her hands together. "But maybe think a little faster."

The woman opens her mouth, then a long second later she just says, "Lena."

"Excuse me?"

"My name." Her voice is low and raspy, which is somehow creepier than the silence. "At least it was, but now I'm dead. Apparently."

"Being dead doesn't change your name, I don't think," Kara says, then she remembers her manners. "Thanks for telling me, though. I know your name holds a lot of power once you enter _the other side_."

"The other side?"

"Yeah, the—oh," Kara cuts off, squinting at Lena. She isn't an expert when it comes to human bodies, but Lena can't have been dead that long. Maybe she's not acquainted yet. Which is good. They don't need to bring the other side into this. She switches the subject back. "It's not important," she waves it off, "but my offer was real. To go home with me. If you're interested in getting out of the cold."

Silence again. 

Awesome, they're back to where they started. Ugh.

Fuck.

She can do this. It's just small talk with a dead person. It's objectively in her job description. "We can circle back to that, though," she says slowly, trying her best to stay patient, calm, cool. She thinks about her training, thinks about the consequences if she _doesn't_ manage to get Lena home with her; then she thinks _god I have absolutely nothing to talk about_ , before she opens her mouth and asks, "So, what's it like being dead?"

Okay, so it's not her best attempt at socializing, but Lena at least reacts to it: she tilts her head, and for a second Kara thinks that's all she might get, but surprisingly Lena... responds.

"It was cold," she says. "Then it was just black for a long time." She pauses, taking a second to look at Kara. "And then I saw you."

"Oh. I'm sorry, then," Kara says, reflexively.

"Why?"

She shrugs. "Not sure. That I'm not God?"

Lena snorts, face shifting into something that looks close to a smile. "It's okay, I don't think I expected to see him, anyway."

"Yeah, he's an elusive one, isn't he?" Kara jokes. Lena actually laughs, just a little bit, so Kara smiles, letting her shoulders relax, watching Lena loosen up, too. "I imagine dying puts a lot of things into perspective. Do you have any wisdom to impart now that you've crossed over? I've always wanted to ask, just never had the chance to, I suppose. But since you're _here_."

"Well, I haven't had time to think about it, but um," Lena stretches out, and then she doesn't speak for a while, the silence in the park growing thick again. Finally, she shrugs. "I guess Shakespeare was right."

Kara quirks a brow. "About what?"

"A lot of things," Lena says, "but mostly when Henry says _when this body did contain a spirit, a kingdom for it was too small a bound; but now, two paces of the vilest earth is room enough_." 

Kara's too tired for this. She has no idea what that means. "I have no idea what that means."

Lena shrugs. "I suppose you will at some point. As you said, you get perspective."

"Hopefully not soon," Kara says, shivering for effect.

Lena smiles again, but there's something too weird about it for this time of night and them being on the subject of Kara dying. "It happens when you least expect it, I'd say, from personal experience. But what do I know?"

"Shakespeare quotes, apparently."

Lena laughs, this time more openly. Kara likes the sound of it, the way it fills up the still of the park. She actually doesn't mind talking to Lena, but they also shouldn't be standing here. She's tired and cold, and they should really just go back to her apartment. "Seriously, though, we should go back to my apartment. The longer we stand here, the more likely it is someone will see us."

"I suppose that's true," Lena says warily.

It's a good enough opening for Kara. "So, you'll come?" she asks.

Lena sighs. It's not exactly the best sign. Kara expects a little opposition to follow or maybe more questions, but she doesn't expect Lena to lift her shirt, poke a finger in one of her stab wounds, then ask, more curious than anything, "Is this some sort of sexual fetish for you?"

Which... _what?_

"No," Kara blurts. "What?"

"Are you a psychopath, then? Who invites dead girls home?"

"Someone who's trying to help," Kara defends. "I'm harmless, like a box of kittens."

"With just as many claws," Lena comments. She pulls her finger out and lets her shirt drop. "Seriously, why not just run away and pretend you never saw me? It's weird that you're still standing here."

"I just feel... responsible," Kara admits. "And I ethically, and also legally cannot leave you standing here."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm the reason you're not dead anymore," Kara says fast, "and there are a lot of rules attached to that, and it'd be a little—okay, not a little, but very, very—bad for me if I just let you walk around, so—"

"So, you're into some creepy shit?"

"No," Kara frowns. "That's not - what - you're terrible at finishing sentences, okay? I was going to say _so come home with me_. Again. Because you're also terrible at listening. We should really go, though, like, now."

"I wasn't finishing your sentence, I was making an observation," Lena says.

God, they never make this easy, do they? "I'm trying to be nice. You're being difficult for no reason."

"Well, I'm dead, so—"

"So, you don't have anywhere else to be," Kara cuts in. "I'm better at finishing sentences than you are. Anyway, lovely conversation, but there's somewhere that's _not_ _here_ that we can be having it."

"You sound like you're getting a little worked up," Lena says calmly.

Kara rolls her eyes. "And you sound like - ugh, okay, you know what? Fine. Good luck wandering the park, then. I'm going home. Where it's warm, and I don't have to look at dead things."

"You're not going home," Lena points out. "You're here as long as I'm here, that much is obvious."

Kara used to consider herself patient, but Lena's really shitting on that. "Does it make it more enticing if I say please?"

"It doesn't," Lena says, clenching her jaw. Kara doesn't want to have to _make_ her move, but when it's half-past eleven and pitch black out she's not exactly opposed. "Tell me how I'm alive, and I'll consider it," Lena decides. "I remember dying. Distinctly. I shouldn't be here."

Right. Kara does owe her that. "Yeah, so, funny story," Kara prefaces, then realizes there isn't really a punchline. She rudely ripped Lena out of the afterlife, and she's probably going to be in a lot of trouble for it. "I'm sort of a necromancer?"

"Really?" Lena blinks at her, skeptically.

"Well, you're dead and you're talking," Kara says. "You don't have a lot of room for skepticism."

"Fair point," Lena concedes. "So, you're just going around raising an undead army?"

"No, I uh, tripped over you while running and your body scared the crap _and_ the magic out of me, which. Isn't my best work, but I'm trying to make up for it."

Lena smiles. This time it's pretty. For a dead girl, Kara supposes. "Smooth," she teases. "So, we go to your apartment, and then what?"

Kara smiles back. She really has to appreciate the humor in this situation, because outside of that she just... royally fucked up. "Then we get yelled at by my sister."

"Okay," Lena says. Then, after a whole minute of nothing, she shrugs. "Fine."

-

One awkward walk to Kara's apartment, a phone call, and twenty minutes of yelling later, Kara hangs up and looks over at Lena. She's been slumped in Kara's recliner staring at a wine stain on the carpet the entire time.

"You know, it looks a little like blood," she says, "I can't stop staring at it."

"Everything looks like blood, I hear. After you've been dead."

Lena's eyes light up when she looks at Kara, jaw clenched like she wants to smile but she's holding it back. "You weren't joking about the yelling."

Kara shrugs. "Alex is predictable like that. Kelly is sending recipes, though. She's like the Martha Stewart of witchcraft. She can make anything that does anything in an edible form."

"Are you going to poison me?"

"The opposite, actually. I want to make you feel a little better."

"Why?"

Kara shrugs again. "I don't know, but I at least want you comfortable while we figure everything out."

"Right, because you really messed up this time," Lena says, something light about her voice. "You should just kill me now while you're ahead. Sounds like you have a long, long history of very bad magical decisions."

Kara's being teased again. By a dead girl. Her life is brilliant. "I did mess up, yes. But I'll fix it. I just - okay, it's hard. And not that it's any of your business, but being able to bring things to life accidentally hasn't been super easy to control."

"Don't I know it," Lena says. This time she does smile.

Kara rolls her eyes. "You have like three living days left on this planet and you're going to use them all messing with me, aren't you?"

Lena snorts. "I didn't know I was on a timer; I'd better turn it up a notch."

"No, you - I - fine," Kara huffs. "But you have to stay here, alright? With me. As fun as that sounds."

"I heard Alex yell _don't let her out of your sight_ all four times. I'll stay. There's no one else I can visit, anyway."

It seems sad, but Kara can tell Lena doesn't want to talk about it. So, she goes with, "Sometimes these things can take a few days to fizzle out. Just waiting for the magic to run its course. So, I'll do the best I can to accommodate you in the meantime."

Lena looks like she's considering that, then, "Do I get to eat?"

"Yes, kind of, but nothing solid, and only what I make you," Kara says, then gestures at the bloodied-up holes littering Lena's shirt. "But I think I'll have to sew you up first, make sure nothing leaks out."

"Sexy. That's always what a girl loves to hear," Lena smiles.

Kara just blinks at her.

This is going to be a long three days.

-

"You're just going to stare at it and not eat it?" Kara asks.

Lena wrinkles up her nose and takes another whiff of the mug of soup Kara handed her. She pulls back again, dissatisfied again. "It smells funny. I don't think you did the recipe correctly."

Kara frowns, setting her own mug on the table. Black coffee—no cream no sugar—to snap her out of this nightmare. "I had to cut you open and sew up your insides, then close you up and sew up your outsides. And _then_ , because m'nice, I spent four hours making you a special, healing soup and all you have to say is that it smells funny?"

"Someone's grumpy," Lena mumbles, taking a sip and curling her lip in disgust afterward. "Why healing?"

"It'll help you feel a little more human, not aching all the time."

"What are you going to do with the body?" Lena asks, taking another sip. "You know, when I just drop dead again in your living room."

"Put it back in the park?" Kara shrugs, then decides that's a distasteful joke. "I haven't thought that far ahead, but I'm hoping I can do something discrete, leave an anonymous tip so your family can find you and get closure."

"My memory feels likes swiss cheese, but I'm fairly certain my family killed me," Lena says, blinking like that's not even a little bit shocking. "Lena Luthor. You might have heard of my brother, Lex."

"The billionaire sociopath?" Kara asks. "I see where you get your humor."

Lena snorts. "Stop that, m'nothing like him," she slurs, mouth full of soup. She swallows, then sighs. "He hated me, and now he's done what he's always wanted to do. I expect we'll hear about it on the news in a day or two."

"That he killed you?"

"No," Lena laughs. "That I'm missing. Then there'll be a search, and that's why I'm wondering: what'll you do when it's suddenly _you_ that has the body of a dead billionaire with an evil brother in her apartment."

"Oh," Kara says.

"Yes, _oh_ ," Lena says. "We should think of something. You're too cute to take the fall for this."

Kara blushes. She doesn't mean to. Lena's pale and her body cracks when she moves and Kara's seen her large intestine, but still. Here she is. "I don't think the way I look determines if I deserve to wrongfully go down for a crime or not."

"Not the way you look," Lena rolls her eyes. "You're like, I don't know, _nice_. You go around feeding dead girls. Someone like you should be on the streets. Not someone like Lex. Or anyone else that would usually kidnap a corpse."

"I did not kidnap a corpse."

"Potayto potahto," Lena waves her hand. "Bigger point, you've just made this easy for him."

"Maybe," Kara says, but she doesn't want to talk about this. It's not her first time hiding a body, and she also doesn't want to talk about that. "Anywho, I have to run to the store and grab some things, so could you try not to rip my apartment apart while I'm gone? I didn't get any sleep last night like one of us did."

"Barely a few hours before you woke me up," Lena quirks a brow. "Hardly counts as sleep."

"Well, you've been out cold for a day or two already. How much could you need?"

Lena laughs. The sound is really starting to grow on Kara. "I'll try not to go through your porn collection while you're gone."

Kara takes a deep, centering breath and shakes her head. "You know, that's actually fine. Just make sure you clean up afterward."

"Now you're just baiting me."

"Whatever," Kara laughs. "Do you want me to grab you a puzzle or something? Rubik's cube?"

"Sure," Lena says. "Surprise me."

-

She makes it through the door of the store and the full eight steps it takes to get to the produce section before Alex is calling her cellphone. "Please tell me I was dreaming last night when you said you brought a corpse home."

Kara drops the mushrooms in her basket. "Nope."

"Fuck, that's not good. It's not authorized and I doubt the Council will take kindly to that."

"You know, I hadn’t thought about that, but you're probably right." She drops in rosemary and oranges and looks around for dried lavender. "I have no experience with messing up bad enough to warrant a disciplinary hearing."

"Don't be an ass."

Kara turns and heads for the tea section, smiling to herself.

"I can cover for the phantoms, but not for this, Kara. You have to get rid of her like, yesterday."

Ah, there's the lavender. She grabs a couple boxes of tea, too. "Well, I didn't get rid of her yesterday, so I guess you're just back to not covering for me."

"Do you even care?"

Kara closes her eyes briefly. Alex cares. That's why she's like this. She has no idea how hard it is being born with magic that no one teaches you to control but keeps punishing you for misusing. "Alex, just drop it, okay? I know I messed up, and I know I'm in trouble, and I really don't expect you to cover for me. Right now, I'm more focused on getting her back okay, though. I don't want this to be an experience that turns her into something malevolent, alright?"

"Fine," Alex says. "Kelly made more recipes, I'll text them."

"Awesome, thanks." Kara clicks out of her phone and heads toward the cereals.

-

She has several minutes of peace on the bus ride back to her apartment, then she walks through the door, sees Lena on the couch, and – "You have ghosts in your apartment," Lena says.

Kara toes her shoes off, trying her best to balance the paper bags. "Who, George and Saffron? They're harmless."

"They're afraid Amy will come back."

"She won't," Kara says. Lena doesn't say anything, but she still looks genuinely concerned. Kara sighs, then she sets the bags down and walks over to kneel on the carpet in front of Lena's knees. "She won't come back because I got rid of her when I got rid of the infestation. They're just nervous little boogers, and she terrorized them, alright? You shouldn't be talking to them, anyway."

Lena frowns, rubbing her palms over her thighs. She's wearing Kara's joggers. "Well, you weren't home, so they latched on to me. It's not my fault."

"I shouldn't have to go out again while you're here, okay?"

Lena clenches her jaw, but her shield cracks as fast as she put it up. "Promise?"

"Of course," Kara says, giving her knee a squeeze. "I'm here for you, no matter what."

Lena leans forward and cups Kara's face in her palms, like she's looking her over. Kara sits up straighter, taller. "What's it like?" she asks. "Being surrounded by so much death all the time."

Kara shrugs. "It's always been this way. I don't know what it's not like."

"It's new for me," Lena comments, letting Kara's face go. "It wasn't all black when I died, like I said. I saw the other side."

"Just go through it," Kara says.

"Easier said than done."

"I won't pull you out this time, so it'll be better."

"No, this is better," Lena mumbles, "but I know I can't stay here. I don't want to end up like them, stuck haunting you."

Kara can't guarantee her she won't end up stuck, or make dying seem better, so she just reiterates, "I'm here."

"Awesome, the world's worst necromancer at my service, just what I need."

Kara smiles because Lena's smiling. "Stay out of my shower. You smell like my soap."

"Does that turn you on?"

"No," Kara laughs. "I'm gonna go make you more soup."

-

"Have you ever seen Silence of the Lambs?"

Kara stops rubbing lotion over the stitching on Lena's belly long enough to frown at her. "Please don't, this is already awkward enough without you pointing it out.

Lena grins, sinks into the couch more, and then she says it, anyway. "I don't know, I just keep thinking _it puts the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again_."

"Oh my god," Kara can't help but laugh. "Do you want me to let your skin get all crusty and flaky?"

Lena shrugs, smiles. "No, I like this. Your hands are warm. But also, why go through the trouble? I'll be dead in a few days, anyway."

"Best case scenario, _yes_ , it'll just be a few days," Kara says carefully, "but truthfully—"

"You're a category six necromancer and what you hope is a few days could turn into a few weeks in the worst case?"

"You read my books while I was out."

"I know so much about you now," Lena smiles, perking up as Kara switches to lotioning her hands. "You can actually feel spectral energy, not just see them. What's that like?"

"Sometimes I randomly get cold at night, and it's really creepy," Kara says. "But most times it's okay. Before the infestation, it'd been a while since anyone new tried to make contact."

"So, you're like a medium."

"No, yes, maybe, it's complicated."

Lena twists her mouth in a frown like she doesn't like that answer. "I can explain quantum entanglement understandably to you in less than thirty seconds, so you should be able to parse apart whether or not you're a medium in a way that's not complicated."

Kara switches to her other hand. "Give it a try. If you can explain it in a way I get it, I'll answer your questions."

"Easy," Lena says. "Two different particles in two different locations impact each other instantaneously at ten thousand times the speed of light. Less than thirty seconds, boom."

"Sounds like magic," Kara says, just because she knows it'll get to Lena.

"Yeah, if magic were theory-driven and quantifiable with scientific backing, I'd say they sound exactly the same."

"The fact that you're talking is all the proof magic needs."

"Why not show the world?"

Kara lets her hand go. "Because the world can't handle it. I'm all done for now."

Lena goes back to frowning. "With the conversation or with the body rub?"

"Both," Kara says. "I have to make you a charm bracelet to keep you from floating, and then another round of soup."

"Floating?"

"It's um—" she wants to say complicated, but she knows better. "If you're here long enough your uh - _spirit_ , if you will, recognizes it's not supposed to be here and it sort of leaves your body. Which creates this whole earthly tether-spectral realm thingy that's just. Not good. So, we should keep you all in one spot."

Lena just laughs. "That sounds made up."

"It's actually terrifying, and one of the most foolproof ways to make a poltergeist."

"Are you afraid I'll cross over and still poke you at night?"

Kara laughs, almost too loud for her small apartment. "Actually, yes. Greatly, deeply, massively afraid of that."

"I'd never hurt you."

"I know. You don't seem like the type."

"What type do I seem like?" Lena smiles, sitting up on the couch.

Kara rolls her eyes. She feels like she's been doing a lot of that lately. "Is this taking it up a notch? You're flirting with me?"

"Not necessarily, but do you want me to be?"

"Not necessarily," Kara mimics, "but you can keep going if it amuses you. It's not going to work."

-

Turns out challenging a dead girl who has nothing better to do is a mistake.

"Can I have coffee, or only the god awful soup you keep force-feeding me?"

Kara's just closing off the charm bracelet when she turns around to find Lena standing in the entrance to the kitchen with nothing but one of Kara's t-shirts on. "I'll ask Kelly," she says. "It's nothing fancy, just the Dunkin' Donuts K-cups that I use."

She's not sure why she felt the need to clarify that, other than the fact that she can almost see high enough up Lena's thighs to not need an imagination. She shakes her head. That's gross. It should be, at least. She doesn't want to think about it.

"Sure." Lena walks into the kitchen, then turns just in front of Kara to lean over the counter. Kara glances down—farther down than Lena's (okay, admittedly) not bad ass, and sees a bruise on the back of her thigh.

"Remind me to put some of the special salve I made on that," she says. "Your bruise on your thigh, not sure if you've noticed it."

Lena shrugs. "Can't say I didn't put up a fight on the way down. What's in your hand?"

"Oh, it's just the bracelet I mentioned."

"Breakfast at Tiffany's, how fancy."

Kara laughs. "Just make sure you keep it on, alright? It should keep your head clear, and hopefully keep the ghosts away."

Lena stands up straight again and holds out her wrist. Kara puts the bracelet on, then Lena takes a deep breath, makes a face, and says, "I don't feel anything."

"You're not supposed to," Kara says.

"I thought it was supposed to do something..." Lena trails off, looking past Kara's head. "Ooh, who's that girl? She's cute."

Kara whirls around to where Lena's staring, to where she has her iPad propped up on the counter with the news cycling, and – fuck. There's a picture of Lena on the screen. "It's starting, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I told you. I know him," Lena mumbles. "Hey, it's totally okay if you just, drop me off somewhere, let me stay there until I fall dead again. You don't need to be in this."

"Not a chance," Kara says. "You're stuck with me, but I'll figure it out."

"You sure?"

"Yeah," Kara whispers. She's not sure, though. She's kind of freaking the fuck out. "You're very beautiful, by the way."

Lena chuckles. "Now or then?"

Kara just smiles. "I'll make us something to eat."

-

Against her better judgment, she lies down on the couch while she's making more soup, and then she wakes up to the lights off in the apartment and a weight on top of her.

A couple seconds of heavy breathing later, she realizes it's Lena. Then she feels a chill. "She stopped the apartment from burning down," Saffron says.

"Yeah, she's nice," George chimes in, "can we keep her?"

"She's not a pet," Kara says. "And can you two stop talking to her? Let her live her last few days in peace."

"Seriously, we should keep her," George goes on. "I know a guy on the other side that can help with a more… permanent spirit placing. You just have to find a gullible human and transfer her to a living—"

"George," Kara groans. "She's going back and she's going _through_ the other side to wherever spirits that don't haunt me end up."

"That was cold," Saffron says.

"Sorry, I'm just definitely, probably going to get my magic license banned."

"No, you're not," Saffron says, and George says _no shh_ , petulantly.

Kara rubs her eyes and shifts underneath Lena. "Tell me why not, or maybe Amy _will_ come back."

"She's unsettled," George says fast.

"She probably reached out to you at the park, and you just didn't notice because you're – well, you're objectively terrible at your job. Sorry," Saffron chimes in.

"I hate both of you," Kara huffs. "Why would she be unsettled?"

"There's probably something about the circumstances surrounding her death that she doesn't remember," George tells her, "but the feeling is strong enough to keep her tethered here."

"Her brother killed her, she said," Kara recalls, blinking away her sleep haze, trying to focus her brain.

"Yeah, but _why_ did he kill her?" Saffron asks. "Why now?"

Kara can hear clapping. She knows it's George even before he sing-songs, "She _knows_ something."

"Yep," Saffron says, "and if you figure out what that is, it can be your ticket to getting out of trouble with the Council. Just say you brought her back to investigate. If it has to do with Lex Luthor, it'll definitely be juicy."

"God," Kara groans.

"You know, he doesn't really exist," Saffron says.

"Technically, neither do you," Kara retorts, then she closes her eyes and tries her best to find sleep again.


	2. Chapter 2

"I think it's sort of fitting," Kara says, wedging the phone between her ear and shoulder as she stains her mug of dark roast with expired half and half. It's fun to watch it spiral in, like a paint mixer that gives you food poisoning. "It's a perfect addition to this October."

"Why?" Alex huffs, in her _god you're dumb_ voice.

"Just think about it," Kara says, and then she drains a fourth of her mug, swears she can _hear_ Alex fuming on the other end, and waits another few seconds to respond just to be annoying. "I mean," she finally goes on, "Mercury is currently in retrograde, plus the Samhain thinning of the veil is aligning with a full moon three days before the election and basically… the world is probably going to end. So, it doesn't really matter I brought a corpse back to life. She's just here for the fireworks show."

"You know what," Alex sighs, resigned. "Just call me back after your coffee sets in and your brain cell turns back on."

"Will do," Kara laughs. "Oh, by the way, since Halloween will _also_ be a blue moon, I've been designing flyers telling virgins not to light any candles. Ask Kelly if she wants to help me pass them out."

"I will not," Alex says. "Call me later."

"Yup."

Kara hangs up the phone, then she chugs another portion of her coffee before she goes to join Lena on the couch. She's bundled in a blanket, zoned-out staring at the wall, so Kara figures it's taking _her_ brain a little time to reboot, too.

She offers what's left of her coffee and waits ten minutes before she says, "It's okay to sleep in the bed. I don't mind taking the couch alone."

"It's better when I'm close to you," Lena says.

So, they're doing vulnerability today. Kara can work with that. "That's fine, we can both sleep in the bed, then. More room."

"That works," Lena says, then she adds, looking at Kara, "You talk a lot in your sleep, you know?"

"I didn't know," Kara says, "but feel free to never mention anything that I said."

Lena smiles, rolling her eyes. There she is, Kara's favorite turd of a corpse. The coffee must be kicking in. "Whatever, it wasn't interesting, anyway. What's on the agenda today?"

"George and Saffron say you're unsettled, so I guess we're figuring that out."

"We're listening to them now?" Lena quirks a brow.

Kara laughs. "If it's true then we should probably do something about it while we have you here."

"And what would make me unsettled?"

"Unfinished business," Kara says, taking her mug back since Lena's letting the last of the coffee go to waste. She drinks what's left, lukewarm and gritty, then lets it settle somewhere deep in her soul that she just drank after a dead girl. "Something you need to get off your chest?"

"If there is, I can't remember it," Lena shrugs.

"I figured," Kara says. "We need to invite Kelly over for this."

-

"She definitely re-entered the world too fast," Kelly says two hours later, sitting on the coffee table across from Lena, holding her hands. "She didn't have time to reorient or ease in or - basically, it was just a sloppy transition," she goes with. "That's why she can't remember."

It's a fair assessment, but Kara still dies inside the second Lena smiles and sits up taller on the couch. She doesn't understand why dead things are simultaneously attracted to her _and_ seem to enjoy watching her suffer. "Okay, but you didn't have to call it _sloppy_."

"Who doesn't love a good sloppy Jane?" Lena asks.

Kara scoffs. Kelly massages her thumbs over Lena's knuckles like she's the one being attacked. "Listen, Kara. I love you, but—"

"Oh, this is going to be good," Lena chimes in.

"—you need to figure out... whatever it is that you need to figure out. Between the phantoms and this, and everything before that, it's just." Kelly looks like she's struggling for words, but Kara gets it. She's a fuck-up, and it's starting to be dangerous. "Concerning," she goes with, several seconds later. "It's mostly just concerning because I know you're better than this."

"I know, I'm sorry, I know," Kara says, "and I really just wanted to take a break after the phantoms; this was an accident. I'm not always _trying_ to be when I'm reckless, if that's better or worse."

Kelly sighs. "This is mostly Alex making me be - well she called it firm, but - mean to you, but I do think you _should_ take that break."

"Lena first," Kara says, because she knows George and Saffron are just getting fuel for the fire.

"I can do a spell," Kelly says, turning back to Lena and giving her a comforting smile. Lena smiles back, soft, like she's not a little demon in training. Kelly looks back to Kara. "But there are a few things you should know. It's really powerful, so it might tire her out, and it'll take a few hours to set in. But, most importantly: it's very likely she's going to change emotionally, and you should be ready for that."

"Don't worry, this one doesn't have emotions," Kara smiles. Lena rolls her eyes. "I think she'll be okay."

Kelly looks between the two of them, then she tilts her head. "Can we talk alone outside for a second? Please."

"Sure," Kara says.

Outside of Kara's apartment door, Kelly truly looks concerned when she says, "I don't think it's settled in for her that she's dead yet."

Kara isn't actually that oblivious. "I know. I just don't think bringing it up in front of her is necessary. If she's sad after the spell, I can handle that. I promise. I just want to let her be a butt while she can, have some fun."

"Alright, then," Kelly softens. She still trusts Kara, and that's good to see. "You really do care about them."

"Yeah, of course," Kara says. "That's the easy part of being magical."

Kelly smiles. "She's healing, by the way."

"What?"

"Her stitching," she clarifies. "You're not going to listen to me, but you should drop this now and take it to the Council."

Kara thinks about that for a second. "What if I do listen?"

"This is over, and she dies again today."

"And if I don't?"

Kelly sighs. "You know that part better than I do, don't you?"

-

"I feel like shit," Lena grumbles, burying her face against Kara's neck. It's only been a few hours since Kelly did the spell, but it's obvious she's fading fast. "Your walls are very thin."

"What do you mean?"

"I could still hear you talking to Kelly outside the door."

"Oh, well. Just pretend you didn't," Kara says, nuzzling closer on the couch. "Eavesdropping is rude, you know."

"If I wake up sad, don't like—"

She doesn't quite finish the sentence. "Don't like _what_?" Kara asks, but she hears Lena snoring, so there goes that conversation.

She spends twenty minutes scrolling Twitter before she caves and checks the news again. It really isn't helping anything reminding herself that she's in deep shit.

"Maybe you should listen to Kelly," Saffron says, just as Kara clicks on the Google link.

"What happened to wanting to keep her?"

"Yeah, but I don't know," Saffron trails off. "What if this gets out of hand and they use a binding spell on you? If you can't use your magic, who's going to stop Amy from coming back? You wouldn't even know we were here anymore."

Kara looks down at her iPad and sighs, then frowns. "I'll always find a way to protect you," she promises, then she points at the picture of Lex's face on her screen "but I'm guessing being arrested for her murder wasn't a part of Lex's plan. If he's who they're pinning it on, then maybe he didn't do it."

"She said Lex did it," Saffron says.

"Maybe she only thinks he did it, or maybe it was just something to do with him, or - _god_ , I'm tired. Are you tired? I'm just—"

"Being drained," Saffron says. "You're being drained."

"Yeah, with everything going on, I feel like that break is definitely going to be necessary. I'm thinking a beach, something warm. Ghosts hate warm places, right? Goes against the aesthetic."

"Ghosts don't care about the weather," Saffron says slowly. "And I meant you're actually being drained. That's why you're tired. That's why she's healing. She's feeding off your magic, but I don't think she realizes it."

"Oh," Kara says.

"Yes, _oh_ ," Saffron echoes. "You should turn her in to the Council."

"Maybe," Kara says. It sounds very reasonable and smart, but she doesn't _want_ to do that, and she's too tired to try and think about why. "Where's George, by the way, feel like you're never not together."

"What do you mean where's George? Are you not being an asshole on purpose?"

"What are you talking about?" Kara asks, looking back at the screen, scrolling down the article. They have evidence against Lex, there's no way he set this up, unless - she can't think of an unless; she needs a working brain cell.

"Seriously?" Saffron asks. "You can't hear him yelling at you? He thinks you're ignoring him."

Kara pauses. That... doesn't sound right. "No, he's not here," she says slowly. "I'd be able to sense energy that annoying, and I'm definitely not feeling it."

"He wants you to know he's offended," Saffron says. "Very. I think you're legitimately hurting his feelings."

"He's not really here, is he?" Kara asks.

"Yes, he's—"

"Ugh, I can't do this," George suddenly huffs. "It feels _icky_ , she's already so stressed."

"Can't do what?" Kara asks, frowning. She doesn't have time for ghosts.

"Saffron said we should play a prank on you that you were losing your magic."

"Of course," Kara says, going back to the iPad. "Is she really draining me? Was that serious?"

"Yeah," Saffron tells her, "but you mostly just need to sleep. And eat, seriously, when is the last time you ate something? You can't be a big, strong necro with no food in your system."

"I don't want to be big or strong _or_ a necro," Kara frowns, "but I'll eat, okay? I promise. Right after I nap. You two go plan more pranks to fail at executing, or whatever else you do in your free time."

"Whatever," Saffron says, and then they're gone.

-

Kara wakes up like she was run over by a bulldozer, chest heavy, body aching, lungs struggling to breathe. She almost rolls over to sleep again, but she perks up when she smells food. _Good_ food, like food that didn't come from Door Dash, cooked right in her own kitchen. After a Herculean amount of effort, she lifts up enough to poke her head over the back of the couch, and. Lena's cooking, because of course she is. She also looks really fucking soft wearing one of Kara's sweaters, and her hair is damp like she's just showered, and Kara maybe read at least a dozen articles about all the cool shit she's done before she went to sleep. She doesn't have a crush or anything, _Lena's dead_ , but she likes her. A little bit.

"Food?" she asks, very coherently, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Yeah, just stay there, I'll bring it to you," Lena says. "It's almost done." Kara does stay there, not that she really has to try: she blinks and then she's being shaken awake. "You're not doing so great, are you?"

"I'm doing fine," she mumbles, and she's guessing it doesn't help she can barely open her eyes. "What's for dinner?"

"I made you chicken and made me soup, again, got the recipes off your iPad," Lena says, and Kara can feel Lena's warmth pulling away. She pouts before she can think too hard about it. "It's okay, I'm here, returning the favor. Thanks for looking out for me, but I think someone needs to look out for you, and I've got nothing better to do."

"What'd you do with Lena?" Kara asks, finally blinking her eyes open to take the plate Lena's handing her. "I don't remember my corpse friend sounding - actually I don't remember _any_ dead being sounding so compassionate."

"I guess the spell worked," Lena shrugs, picking up her mug and sitting next to Kara.

Shit, right, the spell. Kara blinks hard and shakes her head, tries to at least get it together to help Lena. She opens her eyes and sighs. The chicken looks and smells fucking amazing. "How are you feeling? Are you - did you - is it making you sad?"

"Not sad, just. Anxious. I know why I died."

Oh, that's good. "I don't think Lex did it," Kara says. "I can't figure out why he would and then frame himself."

"He didn't," Lena says, sipping her soup. "I think I always assumed he'd be the one to take me out, so it made sense at the time. But I don't think he would ever have it in him to _actually_ kill me."

"Right," Kara says. She thought she and Alex bumped heads, but that's next level. "Do you know who did do it, or like - you said you know why, so. Why?"

"I think it was a hit, so the particular who doesn't matter, but I was about to stop a lot of people from dying."

"Can we still stop a lot of people from dying?"

"Yeah, we need to talk to Andrea Rojas," Lena says, "but first you need to eat, so." She gestures at Kara's plate. Kara picks up the fork and starts with some of the broccoli on the side. Lena looks satisfied with that. "Anyway, Andrea has a big launch coming up, and we can't let her go through with it."

"We?" Kara asks, chewing. "M'not supposed to let you talk to anyone else. I mean, Kelly's one thing, but she's in the community and I trust her. Friends are a definite no, plus the investigation and—"

"She'll be cool," Lena says, "but not if it's just you. Not only will she _not_ listen, but she'll also probably have you thrown out of her office or arrested depending on how many red flags you raise. She needs to see me."

"But you're dead," Kara says.

Lena shrugs. "She'll get over it. And, more importantly, we'll save some lives."

"I like saving lives," Kara starts, slowly, figuring out how to rationalize not having a dead girl roaming around, "but—"

"No but, that should have been it," Lena cuts her off. "She'll get over me being dead. She's a big girl."

"Big girls can be sad, too," Kara points out. "Just for the record."

"Well, Fergie said big girls don't cry, so I think I'll trust the expert on this one."

"The creator of Fergalicious?"

"What have you done that's better?"

"What?" Kara asks, simultaneously over this conversation and not willing to lose to Fergalicious. "I'm going to save a lot of people, like you said. And-" _ugh_ , "I guess I need your help to do it."

"You'd be correct," Lena says.

"Fine," Kara says.

"I like this plan," Saffron says.

Kara just sighs.


	3. Chapter 3

"Do I really have to keep on the hat, the sunglasses, _and_ the hoodie while we're in the car? I look like fucking Ted Kaczynski."

"I could drive us back home," Kara says, rustling the keys. "The disguise is non-negotiable."

"It's not a disguise if it's conspicuous," Lena pouts.

"Please," Kara smiles, reaching over and poking her finger into Lena's thigh. "Ted Kaczynski wishes he could fill those joggers out like that."

Lena pulls off the glasses and drops them on her lap. "I bet you wish you could, too."

Kara snorts, turning so she can scan across the parking lot again. "I thought you were supposed to be nicer once you got your memories back. You're just getting meaner, evolving like a Resident Evil zombie."

"I think dying made me a sociopath," Lena shrugs. "I kind of like it."

"It suits you," Kara agrees. She turns back to Lena and smiles, mouth stretching even wider when she sees that Lena's fighting her own. "We've been creeping in this parking lot for an hour. Are you sure Andrea will be here?"

"Every Wednesday like clockwork. She always orders a fried egg sandwich with avocado."

"Interesting choice."

"Better than the TV dinners in your freezer."

Kara scoffs. "I don't know what they feed you in rich people world, but Lean Cuisine is practically gourmet where I come from."

"Not even." Lena squints at her. "What are you, the stray dog in Lady and the Tramp?"

"Are you implying you're the lady?"

"Are you-" she stops short. "You're either setting that up to be flirty or you're being an asshole. Choose your fighter."

"Oh, I love this one," Kara gushes. "I always pick the lizard with the thumbtack."

"You're such a dork," Lena laughs. She juts her chin at the window then leans forward, squinting. "I'm pretty sure that's her walking in now. What's your game plan?"

"Just get her back to my car. Easy."

"You're not as charming as you think you are."

Kara rolls her eyes. She's totally charming. Still, every fight she's taken with Lena in the past week she's lost, and she's running low on dignity. "Fine, then. Tell me what to say since you're obviously itching to."

"Best idea you've had all day," Lena says, sitting up straight. She nibbles her lip, tilts her head, then her eyes light up. "Alright, listen carefully, and please, for the love of god, do not deviate."

Kara nods. "I'm all ears."

Lena blinks at her a second, then - "On second thought, just give me your phone. There are easier ways to do this."

Twenty minutes later, she drops Kara's phone in the cup holder and leans back in her seat. "It's all done."

"Huh?" Kara looks up from playing Pokémon on her Switch. "Just like that?"

"I know her," Lena shrugs. "It wasn't hard to convince her it's me and that it's serious."

"Did you tell her you're like - you know?"

Lena looks down at her hands. "No, I didn't think that was important."

"Okay," Kara sighs.

There's a long stretch of silence after she says it.

Maybe it's about time she actually did her job right. She clicks her game off. "It was weird seeing her, wasn't it?" Lena looks up at her, but she doesn't say anything, just blinks. "Yeah, so. We don't have the rule about not seeing friends or family just for _them_ ; it's because it's hard for you, too. Being brought back after dying is difficult enough, but seeing what you lost and you're not on the living side is tough. It's normal for it to be - for you to _feel_ —" God, she really fucked up this time. "Look, I'm an idiot, okay? And I know we keep joking about me being bad at my job, but it's actually true, and that's why everyone is so fed up with me. I knew I shouldn't have brought you here. I knew you just wanted to see her, but I also knew—"

Lena grabs Kara's hand suddenly, cups it between her own and twists in her seat to face Kara. "Stop."

"No, I need to own up to all the things I keep messing up. I'm almost 30 - that's like, too old to be too young to punish."

"Please," Lena sighs. "If you don't stop, I'll have to do something really bad."

That gets Kara's attention. "Like what?"

"Like say something genuinely nice to you and mean it."

"Oh, well." Kara shifts in her own seat, flexing her hand between Lena's. "I'm listening."

Lena groans and squeezes Kara's hand. "You're annoying, okay? But, you're also not bad at your job. You're actually really good at your job and people just don't understand."

"No, I think I'm pretty bad," Kara says. "Like, objectively. I have a disciplinary record a mile long."

"You're not," Lena says, more firmly this time. "You care enough to put the dead before yourself, and maybe the living don't appreciate that, but I promise _we_ do. And if I have to spend my last day or two convincing you of that, then I will."

"Oh." That's maybe the nicest thing anyone's ever said to Kara, living _or_ dead. She's a little shocked it came from the dead, to be honest, but that's alright. She takes those. "Really?"

"I wouldn't be happy about it," Lena frowns. "Honestly, I'd be really annoyed if I had to, but I'd be even more annoyed if I died letting you think you were some fuck-up that deserves the hate you get. You're weird and you don't have your shit together, sure, but at least your heart is in the right place. Even I can see that. And I'm a sociopath, remember?"

"I think we should re-evaluate that."

"Me caring about you changes nothing, not even a little bit."

"Oh, that's unfortunate," Kara says. "I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

Lena rolls her eyes. "What?"

"Caring about me."

"It's not a bad thing." She slaps Kara's shoulder. "Do I have to be your emotional support corpse?"

Kara hums like she's thinking about it. "Is that _not_ what you've been doing this entire time?"

" _God_ ," Lena groans. "Okay, okay, jokes aside, just - nod your head if you understand," she says. Kara nods. "Good, because I don't want to repeat all of that. I prefer making fun of you." Kara opens her mouth to say _me too_ , but Lena waves her hand to quiet her. "I wasn't done. I have one other thing - nod your head if you're taking me to Terror Fest tonight."

"No," Kara says.

Lena pouts at her. She nods.

-

They go home and nap for seven hours, then Kara buys Lena a skeleton mouth face mask and a red wig from Target, and somewhere around 9pm they find themselves standing in the middle of screaming teenagers and chaos.

Kara's having a blast. "Did you really head a project to invent portal traveling? That's like - I can't even imagine that being possible outside of movies and CGI."

Lena laughs as she scrubs powdered sugar off her chin. They picked a quiet corner of the amusement park to take a break, so it's dark enough that Lena can eat their funnel cake without her mask, but Kara's still being more vigilant than she probably needs to be. "How many articles about me did you read?"

"A lot," Kara laughs, shoving a chunk of funnel cake and ice cream in her mouth, licking the mess off her fingers. "There's so much about all the stuff you've done on the internet. You even have a subreddit. I feel like I've discovered this whole new world," she says. "But that's not important - tell me everything about portal traveling."

"It never really got off the ground floor," Lena tells her, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "But it's not like a weird concept in theoretical physics. We've always thought about portals on the quantum level, like super small-scale, nothing you'd be flying a spacecraft through. There's this huge gap in physics between visible physics and dark energy. Or like, between stuff we can measure and detect, and stuff we can feel the effects of but can't interact with. There are these, um, models for understanding the universe, you know, but there's still all this stuff we can't really explain."

"Like gravity?"

"Exactly," Lena nods, "So, I was just making the argument that it's _possible_. People thought I was a little crazy, though."

"I don't think you're crazy," Kara clarifies. "I think you're the coolest person I've ever met."

"Maybe it was a little crazy," Lena says. "I mean, even knowing magic, like _real_ magic exists, I'm still skeptical of us ever creating portal technology to transport ships of people across the universe."

"Maybe one day," Kara smiles, tapping sugar on the tip of Lena's nose. "You at least opened the door."

"Right, sure, but to what?" Lena rubs her nose then hooks her mask back over her ears. "To intergalactic war?"

"You proposing a toast?"

Lena snorts. "You're such a dork." She's silent for a second. "Anyway, um, what else did you read?"

Kara shrugs. "You donate a lot of money."

"I have a lot of money to donate, so. It's not a big deal."

"If you say so," Kara laughs. She nudges Lena with her shoulder. "I read you were engaged at one point."

"If you're worried you have competition," Lena starts, then she shakes her head. "That was over long before I was dead."

It doesn't feel like that's a conversation, so Kara keeps going. "I read you helped fund a lot of cool research."

"Mostly things I was personally interested in, so again - not really a big deal."

"Why does this feel like a fight?" Kara asks. "I'm not attacking you."

Lena sighs. "No, you're just pretending you didn't see all the bad shit, or that you didn't see what people thought of me."

"I mean, I did. It was there."

"And?"

"What do you want me to say?" Kara nudges her again, but Lena doesn't respond right away. "No, really. Do you want me to say that half of the negative stuff wouldn't have been written if you were a man? Or that you get way too much crap just for existing with your last name? Or did you actually want me to defend the outfit you wore to present the Sci-Tech Awards category at the Oscars? Because I can't do the last one, Lena. It was hideous. Every word they said was true."

"I hate you," Lena says, and just to prove it - she scoots over until they're touching and rests her head on Kara's shoulder.

Kara turns and nuzzles against her hair. "You already confessed your love to me earlier today, so. That's false."

"Whatever," Lena mumbles. Kara can tell she's smiling underneath the mask. "We should stop being boring and get on some rides or something. These tickets cost like half your rent."

"Yeah, you're right," Kara whispers. "I was trying not to think of that."

"It's okay; you can always start charging for palm readings."

"I was thinking more like Twitch streamer."

Lena rubs her face against Kara's shoulder. "A chatting stream where you talk about the other side and ghosts? Good luck."

Kara laughs. "Yeah, I think I'll go with the palm readings. Come on, let's go."

-

"How much trouble are you going to get in?" Lena asks. It's after 1am and dark all around them on the highway, Kara relaxing in the lull of the empty lanes. "Don't sugarcoat it."

"A lot, probably," Kara admits. "They caution about reanimation even going past a few hours, so breaking that rule combined with the fact I still haven't alerted them yet - it's not going to be good."

"Will they take your magic away?"

"Maybe," Kara shrugs.

"Do you want them to?" Lena asks.

It hits Kara deeper than maybe the question was intending. Mostly because the first answer to pop into her head is _yes_. She shrugs again, keeps her eyes focused on the road. "Maybe."

They let a thick silence fall between, and a few minutes pass before Lena asks, "Did you enjoy tonight?"

"Yeah," Kara nods. "It was really fun; the most fun I've had in a while, and I'm not just saying that."

"Good. It looked like it - like you were having fun. Did you notice all the spirits?"

Kara's heart stutters. She thinks about what Saffron said, about her magic weakening and now she just feels like a contradiction because _not_ having her magic is just as terrifying as having it. "No. I didn't really notice any."

"There were a lot," Lena says. "There were a lot of pretty malevolent spirits out tonight, but. I'm pretty sure they're afraid of me?" She says it like a question. Kara chances a look glance at her, briefly. She's staring off at the road ahead of them. "It was obvious they wanted to interact with you, but it's like they were terrified of my presence. I was thinking about the physics talk we had earlier, and I think I exist in both realms, maybe, and something about that is scary for them."

"That makes sense," Kara says. She chews her lip for a second. "You can actually see them?"

"You can't?"

Kara shakes her head. "Not really. I mostly just feel them, but when I'm dreaming, I - I think they're sometimes in my dreams. I used to be terrified of sleeping when I was a kid."

"That explains the talking," Lena whispers, almost like it's to herself, and now Kara's even less interested in knowing what she says. "But, how was it last night? You were pretty silent when I woke up."

"I was out like a light," Kara says. "Best sleep I've had in a while. Even woke up feeling refreshed."

"I think I keep the ghosts away." She sounds more sure this time. "At least the bad ones, the ones that—" she shakes her head. "I don't know, but maybe not having your magic won't be so bad. Maybe you need the break."

The weird part is that she's right. Kara can't remember the last time she let herself go out this close to Halloween, the last time she was out this late and didn't need to listen to music full-volume to keep the voices out.

It's her life and she's used to it, but it's also just - a lot.

"I think so, too," Kara agrees, "but I'll really miss the good ones, you know?"

"I know," Lena says, then she huffs out a sigh, waits another few minutes, and thankfully decides on changing the subject. "You want to hear something interesting?"

Kara nods. "Always. Lay it on me."

"So, funnily enough - and don't laugh at me - but, I've never actually seen Lady and the Tramp before."

"Really?" Kara smiles.

"Really," Lena says. "I've been thinking about it all day, ever since we talked about it. I don't even know the plot."

"We have to fix that then, don't we?"

Lena nods. "That's exactly what I was thinking."


End file.
